Baffling decision to put Jack Crowley in front of media had him between rock and a hard place

Players who are not going to start a game are generally not put on media duty. That's was not the case earlier this week for Munster's Jack Crowley. 

Munster and Ireland out-half Jack Crowley speaks to the media on Tuesday. Picture: ©INPHO/Tom Maher

An odd one, this. Tuesday lunchtime and Jack Crowley is standing with his back to a wall, surrounded by journalists and answering questions for a piece that the IRFU has embargoed until Saturday. Game day. Two days later and the Munster out-half is named on the bench with Andy Farrell handing the No.10 jersey to Sam Prendergast instead.

We don’t need to delve too deeply into the inner mechanics of sports journalism and PR here, but it’s worth explaining that players destined for the bench are rarely put up for interview earlier in the week. That should absolutely never be the case when it’s a player engaged in such a high-profile battle for an iconic jersey.

Rock, meet hard place.

That Crowley was put up is baffling. The head coach didn’t name the matchday squad until the Wednesday but Crowley would have read the room by then. Because players know. The indicators are evident in what reps you get, the language used and myriad other tell-tale signs around camp.

This turn of events hasn’t actually dated Crowley’s comments. If anything, it has infused them with extra meaning. Or, at the very least, imbued them with more layers that are ripe for peeling as the Ireland out-half debate ratchets up to a level last seen when Ronan O’Gara and Johnny Sexton were butting heads over a decade ago.

Take, for instance, his opinion when asked what he had to do to nail down a place in the starting team. “Not too sure,” he said. “Not a hundred per cent up to me. Try and build consistency and continue to work on the areas of my game that I know I can.” That absorbs differently now to then.

He wasn’t exactly bubbly. It was impossible to know then if it owed to the love-in from pundits and journalists for Prendergast in recent weeks, or because the writing was on the wall in terms of selection. Still, he handled himself well in spite of it, even if some answers were understandably clipped.

Among the most on-point responses offered, one had nothing to do with Ireland. It came, instead, on the back of a query about the continuing tremors back in Munster where the province is still in scramble mode after Graham Rowntree’s early-season departure. Worrying?

RIVALS: Sam Prendergast of Ireland, left, makes his way onto the pitch to replace Jack Crowley during the Autumn Nations Series match against Argentina. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile

“Ahh, no,” he said. “I guess it’s down to how you react to that. It’s something that you can allow yourself to affect you, it is just down to choice.” Crowley’s choice now is to allow this demotion to burn, or to use it as fuel. Nothing we have seen from him so far suggests that the 24-year-old will fail to respond to the fact that, for the first time since Sexton retired, he has been overlooked for a Test start against one of the world’s top teams.

Crowley had stepped in to the Leinster veteran’s shoes with zero fuss. He was key to an Ireland team that rebounded from World Cup disappointment and Sexton’s departure by claiming another Six Nations title and winning one of two Tests in South Africa. All – the win in Marseille against France aside – without playing to their absolute best.

Prendergast did well on his first start for Ireland against Fiji last week. His Leinster head coach Leo Cullen opted to highlight the 21-year-old’s temperament as an aspect to his day that stood out but Crowley brings his own presence and no-nonsense personality to the group too.

“In most positions you will always like a character to be there, someone strong, someone that is willing to take the game to that position,” he explained on Tuesday. “And also, when setbacks come as well, the person that is able to deal with them, get up and keep moving forward.” Prescient?

There is a maturity to Crowley that allowed him emerge from a pack of tens at Munster and then pick up the baton post-Sexton. He talked solemnly about the “magnitude” of the No.10 and what it means to put it on. Now here he is starring in the latest remake of Ward v Campbell.

It’s 24 months since he wore it for the first time, on Australia’s last visit, and he obviously believes himself to be a better player now than then. Though vague on specifics when asked for areas still in need of improvement, he was quick to shut down talk of being more “comfortable” in the shirt.

Little did we know at the time.

“Look it’s something you never get comfortable in. You’re always trying to take it to a better place and always trying to get better, and that’s the same whether it is here or whether it is back in Munster.

“I’m always trying to put my best foot forward and see what’s best for the team and put a good performance in. You know some days it is and some days it isn’t. You’ve got to roll with it and pick yourself up and go again.”